Spring Water Storage Help

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AdamGoldMiner

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Greetings, I'm a noob to the forum and would love if some of you more experienced folks would help me think through this situation:

Our home that we purchased last summer has a spring as its water source. During testing the spring maintained 5gpm for about 30 minutes before slowing and then leveling off at 1.5 gpm for 4 hours. After living in the home we've had plenty of water except for times like the following: We got home from camping, washed both cars and the trailer, ran two loads of laundry and then everyone (2 adults 2 children) started trying to take showers...showers didn't work...trickle spurt, etc.

The spring itself is only a few feet deep with a 3 foot diameter culvert for a wall, with a pump house built on top. I'd like to install a storage tank (I'm thinking 750 gallon) next to the spring house to hold a reasonable amount of water to be filled by the spring before being pumped into pressure tank, then up to the house. I'm thinking to use a KARI float switch in the tank to control when water is pumped from the spring.

The spring produces plenty of water for normal, ordinary daily use, it's those extreme high-use conditions that cause the lack of water.

My questions: Is 750gal tank enough (I estimate that's 2 days storage)? Not enough?

Since the current well pump is for the spring could I use it to pump water from the tank to the house, and replace it with a new pump from the spring into the tank? In that case, what kind of pump?

Should I use a float in the spring to turn off that pump if the water gets too low, or some kind of a cavitation sensor to shut off the pump if it sucks air? What's the best way to deal with that?

Any input would be appreciated.
 

Reach4

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You need to take freezing into account in your design if it freezes where you are.

There are devices that can monitor the electric current drawn by a pump and shut down the pump for a while if the pump runs out of water.
 

Smooky

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I think I would dig the existing hole deeper to increase the storage capacity and the depth of avalible water.
 

Valveman

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Greetings, I'm a noob to the forum and would love if some of you more experienced folks would help me think through this situation:

Our home that we purchased last summer has a spring as its water source. During testing the spring maintained 5gpm for about 30 minutes before slowing and then leveling off at 1.5 gpm for 4 hours. After living in the home we've had plenty of water except for times like the following: We got home from camping, washed both cars and the trailer, ran two loads of laundry and then everyone (2 adults 2 children) started trying to take showers...showers didn't work...trickle spurt, etc.

The spring itself is only a few feet deep with a 3 foot diameter culvert for a wall, with a pump house built on top. I'd like to install a storage tank (I'm thinking 750 gallon) next to the spring house to hold a reasonable amount of water to be filled by the spring before being pumped into pressure tank, then up to the house. I'm thinking to use a KARI float switch in the tank to control when water is pumped from the spring.

The spring produces plenty of water for normal, ordinary daily use, it's those extreme high-use conditions that cause the lack of water.

My questions: Is 750gal tank enough (I estimate that's 2 days storage)? Not enough?

Since the current well pump is for the spring could I use it to pump water from the tank to the house, and replace it with a new pump from the spring into the tank? In that case, what kind of pump?

Should I use a float in the spring to turn off that pump if the water gets too low, or some kind of a cavitation sensor to shut off the pump if it sucks air? What's the best way to deal with that?

Any input would be appreciated.

The size of the storage tank has a lot to do with how fast it can be replenished. With a 1.5 GPM minimum from the spring, that would be 2,160 gallons per day. You may not even need a tank as large as 750 gallons, but it won't hurt anything.

Yes you can use the pump you have now to pump from the storage tank to the house. All you would need to control it is a Pside-Kick kit. And you can use a Cycle Sensor to detect a dry tank, and shut the pump off before any damage is done.

You might want to use a sump pump from the spring to the storage tank. They will draw from a very shallow area, and usually have a float switch that will shut the pump off when the spring runs dry. You can just wire up a float switch in the tank to work in conjunction with the sump pump safety float switch. But if the float switch in the spring is a installation problem, you can also use a Cycle Sensor to protect that type of pump. The Cycle Sensor does not have a float. It simply senses the amp draw, and knows when the spring or storage tank is empty.
 

AdamGoldMiner

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The size of the storage tank has a lot to do with how fast it can be replenished. With a 1.5 GPM minimum from the spring, that would be 2,160 gallons per day. You may not even need a tank as large as 750 gallons, but it won't hurt anything.

Yes you can use the pump you have now to pump from the storage tank to the house. All you would need to control it is a Pside-Kick kit. And you can use a Cycle Sensor to detect a dry tank, and shut the pump off before any damage is done.

You might want to use a sump pump from the spring to the storage tank. They will draw from a very shallow area, and usually have a float switch that will shut the pump off when the spring runs dry. You can just wire up a float switch in the tank to work in conjunction with the sump pump safety float switch. But if the float switch in the spring is a installation problem, you can also use a Cycle Sensor to protect that type of pump. The Cycle Sensor does not have a float. It simply senses the amp draw, and knows when the spring or storage tank is empty.

Thanks ValveMan, I appreciate your input. I was considering a sump pump in the spring since they're relatively cheap, submersible and have a float already attached, I don't think space would be an issue if I got one with a vertical float.

What's the purpose/advantage of the Pside-Kick compared to what is already in place - which is the pressure tank coupled to pressure switch high/low on at 40 off at 60 setup?
 

Valveman

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Thanks ValveMan, I appreciate your input. I was considering a sump pump in the spring since they're relatively cheap, submersible and have a float already attached, I don't think space would be an issue if I got one with a vertical float.

What's the purpose/advantage of the Pside-Kick compared to what is already in place - which is the pressure tank coupled to pressure switch high/low on at 40 off at 60 setup?

The Pside-Kick also comes with a 40/60 switch. But it has a CSV1A so only a 4.5 gallon size tank is needed. However, the CSV1A will work with the tank you have or any size tank. The CSV just keeps the pressure steady at 50 PSI while you are using water instead of letting it continually cycle on/off between 40 and 60. Running steady is much better for the pump and delivers stronger pressure for showers and other things.
 
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